In order to efficiently performing a secondary sorting (or secondary classification that is a sorting processing for delivery) of mails at a post office, it was conventional to adopt either one of the following two methods that are disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese patent publication no. 2002-355613 entitled “Delivery Processing Method and System Therefor”). One is “a method of printing address barcode on mails” and the other is “a database management method of mail IDs and address information”.
The former method is to determine address information of collected mails by an address recognition section that identifies the addresses of each mail and the determined address information is printed on the surface of each mail as an address barcode. In the secondary sorting stage, mails are sorted by reading out the address barcodes printed on the mails. On the other hand, the latter method is to print mail IDs on mails for identifying each collected mail and determine the address information from the address recognition section for identifying the address of each mail. The mail IDs and the determined address information are managed as an ID database for performing the secondary sorting with reference to the ID database in the secondary sorting stage.
Firstly, the former method will be briefly described as a first prior art with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a block diagram to show a system configuration comprising a primary sorting post office and a secondary sorting post office that constitute a mail sorting system according to the first prior art. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for describing the operation of the conventional mail sorting system in FIG. 3.
(Construction of First Prior Art)
The first prior art or a mail sorting system 100A as shown in FIG. 3 comprises a primary sorting post office 10A that engages with a primary sorting works (processing for arrived mails) for performing a primary stage sorting works of the arrived mails and a secondary sorting post office 30A that engages with a secondary sorting works (processing for delivery mails) for performing a second stage sorting works of the primarily sorted mails.
The primary sorting post office 10A comprises a sorter main body 11A for performing the primary sorting works and an address recognition unit 21 for performing an address recognition processing that is necessary in both of the primary sorting works and the secondary sorting works. The secondary sorting post office 30A comprises a sorter main body 31A that engages with the secondary sorting works.
Moreover, the sorter main body 11A that engages with the primary sorting works includes a feeding section 12, an ID barcode printing section 13, an image input section 14, a sorting control section 15A, sorting boxes 16, 17 and an address barcode printing section 19. The address recognition unit 21 includes an address recognition control section 22, an OCR (Optical Character Reader) 23, VCS (Video Coding System) 24 and an ID database 25.
It is to be noted in the sorter main body 11A that the feeding section 12 feeds mails to the sorter main body 11A as primary feeding materials. The ID barcode printing section 13 is a printer for printing an ID barcode on the surface of each mail for identifying such mail. The image input section 14 is a scanner for photographing the addresses and the barcodes, wherein the images are inputted to the address recognition unit 21 for extracting addresses and ID characters printed on or attached to the mails.
The sorting control section 15A controls the overall operation of the sorter main body 11A and performs mail sorting (primary sorting) in accordance with the address information. The sorting boxes 16, 17 are used for receiving the primarily sorted mails and plural boxes equal to the number of classifications in the primary sorting are provided. It is to be noted that the number of sorting boxes 16, 17 is sufficient if it is the level necessary to determine the secondary sorting post office 30A.
The address barcode printing section 19 is a printer for printing on the surface of mails the final address information that is recognized by the address recognition unit 21 and necessary for the secondary sorting that is performed by the secondary sorting post office 30A.
The address recognition control section 22 in the address recognition unit 21 is designed to control the OCR 23 and the VCS 24 and also manage the ID database 25. The ID database 25 is a database (DB) for storing the ID for identifying each mail in association with the address information.
It is to be noted that the OCR 23 identifies the ID of each mail based on the address image or the barcode image from the image input section 14 and reads character information including from the ZIP code (postcode) to the town name on such mail. On the other hand, the VCS 24 recognizes, based on the address image and the barcode image, all characters of the address including the address number and the condominium room number to the final level that is necessary for the secondary sorting. That is, the address recognition unit 21 performs not only the address identification processing necessary for the primary sorting but also the final address information identification processing necessary for the secondary sorting that is performed in the secondary sorting post office 30A. The results of processing are recorded on the ID database 25 and printed on the surface of the respective mails by the address barcode printing section 19.
On the other hand, the sorter main body 31A that engages with the secondary sorting comprises a feeding section 32, an address barcode read-out section 38, a sorting control section 34A and sorting boxes 35, 36.
The feeding section 32 in the sorter main body 31A feeds the mails that are primary sorted by the sorter main body 11A to the sorter main body 31A as secondary sorted materials. The address barcode read-out section 38 is a barcode reader for reading out the particular address barcode printed on the surface of the mail by the address barcode read-out section 19 for identifying each mail. The sorting control section 34A is designed to control the overall operation of the sorter main body 31A and sorts the mails in accordance with the address information. The sorting boxes 35, 36 receive the secondarily sorted mails and plural boxes are prepared in accordance with the secondary classifications. It is to be noted that the secondary sorting is designed to perform the final sorting for delivery.
(Operation of the First Prior Art)
Now, the operation of the mail sorting system 100A in FIG. 3 as the first prior art will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, steps S41 through S58 are operations (processing for arrived mails) in the primary sorting post office 10A, while steps S61 through S68 are operations (processing for delivery mails) in the secondary sorting post office 30A.
In the flowchart in FIG. 4, a first operation is to place mails collected from mailboxes or the like in front of the sorter main body 11A in the primary sorting post office 10A (step S41). The collected mails are, then, fed to the feeding section 12 in the sorter main body 11A for performing the primary sorting (processing for arrived mails) (step S42). The mails to be fed to the feeding section 12 undergo address image reading-of the mails by using an optical scanner or the like in the image input section 14 and the address images are sent to the address recognition section 21 (section S43).
In the address recognition section 21, addresses in the address images are sequentially recognized by the OCR 23 and the VCS 24 in order to determine as the updated address information. The determined address information is sequentially stored in the ID database 25. That is, as the identification processing by the OCR 23 and the VCS 24 proceeds as the address information, they are sequentially stored in the ID database 25 as the updated address information. Moreover, the determined address information is sent to the sorting control section 15A in response to the inquiry from the sorting control section 15A.
In the sorting control section 15A, upon receiving the address information as identified by the address recognition section 21, it is judged if the identification is made to the final level as the address information necessary for performing the secondary sorting in the secondary sorting post office 30A (step S44). If the identification is made to the final level necessary for the secondary sorting (YES in step S44), the address barcode is printed on the surface of the respective mail in the address barcode printing section 19 (step S45) and then the mail is classified and placed in one of the sorting boxes 16, 17 corresponding to the secondary sorting post office 30A (step S46).
On the other hand, if it failed to identify to the final level necessary for the secondary sorting (NO in step S44), the ID barcode printing section 13 prints on the surface of each mail the ID as the ID barcode for identifying each mail and the ID barcode is recorded in the ID database 25 in association with the address information that is insufficient to identify (step S47). Since it is unable to identify the address to the final level of the mail, it is classified in the sorting box for feeding again or second feeding (step S48).
Subsequently, it is placed in front of the sorter main body 11A for retrying the feeding processing of the mail (step S49) and the mail is sent again to the feeding section 12 in the sorter main body 11A (step S50).
Then, the ID barcode printed on the surface of the mail that is fed again to the feeding section 12 is read out by a scanner (the ID barcode read-out section) that is not shown in FIG. 3 (step S51). The sorting control section 15A refers to the ID database 25 in the address recognition unit 21 about the updated address information corresponding to the read-out ID (step S52). The ID database 25 reads out the updated address information corresponding to the particular ID and returns it to the sorting control section 15A.
The sorting control section 15A that received the address information from the ID database 25 judges if the received updated address information identifies the mail to the final level necessary for the secondary sorting (step S53).
If the mail that is fed again is determined to have been identified to the final level necessary for the secondary sorting (YES in step S53), the sorting control section 15A controls the address barcode printing section 19 to print the address barcode on the surface of the mail as is the case in steps S45 and S46 (step S54). The mail is, then, classified and placed in the sorting box corresponding to the address (step S55).
On the other hand, if the mail that is fed again is not identified to the final level necessary for the secondary sorting (NO in step S53), the mail is unable to identify to the final level necessary for the secondary sorting by the machine processing and is sorted in a rejection box for manual processing (step S56). Subsequently, the mail is sorted manually to the final level and placed in the corresponding one of the sorting boxes 16, 17 (step S57).
Now, description will be made on the operation of the secondary sorting post office 30A that engages with the secondary sorting (processing for delivery) of the mails that passed through the primary sorting. Firstly, the mails that passed through the primary sorting are brought in front of the sorter main body 31A in the secondary sorting post office (step S61). In order to perform the secondary sorting (processing for delivery), the mails are fed to the feeding section 32 in the sorter main body 31A (step S62). The address barcodes on the mails are read out by an optical scanner or the like in the address barcode read-out section 38 before being sent to the sorting control section 34A (step S63).
Thereafter, in the sorting control section 34A, a judgment is made if the read-out address barcodes include the final level information that is sufficient as the address information corresponding to the address ID barcode from the address barcode read-out section 38 (step S64). If it is determined that the final level information sufficient for the secondary sorting have been acquired (YES in step S64), the mails are placed in the sorting boxes 35, 36 for the address corresponding to the acquired address information (step S65).
On the other hand, if it is determined that the acquired information is insufficient for the final level for the secondary sorting (NO in step S64), the address information of the particular mail is determined to be impossible by the machine processing for the secondary sorting and the particular mail is placed in a rejection box for a manual sorting (step S66). Then, the mail undergoes a manual sorting and is placed in the corresponding sorting box, i.e., either one of the sorting boxes 35, 36 (step S67).
Upon completing the secondary sorting in the secondary sorting post office 30A in the above manner, the mails in each sorting box 35, 36 are taken out for delivery processing to each address (step S68).
Now, a second prior art of “a method of managing mail IDs and address information in a database” will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. FIG. 5 is a system configuration of a primary sorting post office and a secondary sorting post office that constitute the second prior art mail sorting system. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for describing the operation of the prior art mail sorting system as shown in FIG. 5.
(Construction of the Second Prior Art)
Similar to the first prior art, the second prior art also comprises, as shown in FIG. 5, a primary sorting post office 10B that engages with a primary sorting (processing for arrived mails) corresponding to a first stage sorting of arrived mails and a secondary sorting post office 30B that engages with a secondary sorting corresponding to a second stage sorting of the mails that passed through the primary sorting.
The primary sorting post office 10B comprises a sorter main body 11B that engages with the primary sorting and an address recognition unit 21 that engages with an address recognition processing necessary for primary sorting works and secondary sorting works. The secondary sorting post office 30B comprises a sorter main body 31B that engages with the secondary sorting works and an address recognition unit 21B that engages with an address recognition processing necessary for the secondary sorting. It is to be noted that the address recognition unit 21B in the secondary sorting post office 30B is constructed to transfer the information of the address recognition section 21 in the primary sorting post office 10B by way of a communication infrastructure.
Moreover, the sorter main body 11B that engages with the primary sorting works comprises a feeding section 12, an ID barcode printing section 13, an image input section 14, a sorting control section 15B, sorting boxes 16, 17 and an address barcode printing section 19. The address recognition unit 21 comprises an address recognition control section 22, an OCR (Optical Character reader) 23, a VCS (Video Coding System) 24 and an ID database 25. This means that the sorter main body 11B is completely identical to the sorter main body 11A in FIG. 3 except that the address barcode printing section 19 in the sorter main body 11A in FIG. 3 is deleted and the sorting control section 15A is replaced by the sorting control section 15B. It is to be noted here that the sorting control section 15b or the address recognition control section 22 are provided with a function for transporting contents stored in the ID database 25 in the address recognition unit 21 to the ID database 25B in the address recognition unit 21B in the secondary sorting post office 30B by way of a communication infrastructure.
This means that in the primary sorting post office 10B in FIG. 5 the address information necessary for the secondary sorting is not printed on each mail, instead the address information that are stored in the ID database 25 after identification processing in the address recognition unit 21 to the level necessary for secondary sorting are transferred to the ID database 25B in the address recognition unit 21B in the secondary sorting post office 30B. And all other operations are identical to those in the primary sorting post office 10A in FIG. 3.
On the other hand, the sorter main body 31B that engages with the secondary sorting works comprises a feeding section 32, an address barcode read-out section 38, a sorting control section 34B and sorting boxes 35, 36. The address recognition unit 21B comprises an address recognition control section 22B, an OCR (Optical Character Reader) 23B, a VCS (Video Coding System) 24B and an ID database 25B. This means that the sorter main body 31B is completely identical to the sorter main body 31A in FIG. 3 except that the address barcode read-out section 38 and the sorting control section 34A in the sorter main body 31A in FIG. 3 are replaced by the ID barcode read-out section 33 and the sorting control section 34B, respectively. It is to be noted that in the second prior art as described hereinabove, the address recognition unit 213 that has the same construction as the address recognition unit 21 in the primary sorting post office 10A in FIG. 3 is also provided in the secondary sorting post office 30B so that information from the address recognition unit 21 in the primary sorting post office 10B is transferred.
The feeding section 32 and the sorting boxes 35, 36 in the sorter main body 31B are completely identical to those in the sorter main body 31A in FIG. 3. The feeding section 32 feeds to the sorter main body 31B mails that are primarily sorted by the sorter main body 11B as the secondary feeding materials. The sorting boxes 35, 36 are designed to place secondarily sorted mails. The ID barcode read-out section 33 is a reader to reads out the ID barcodes that are printed on the surface of mails by the ID barcode printing section 13 for identifying each mail. The sorting control section 34B controls the overall operation of the sorter main body 31B and places the secondary sorted mails in the sorting boxes 35, 36.
It is to be noted that as described hereinabove the address recognition unit 21B in the secondary sorting post office 30B is designed to transfer information from the address recognition unit 21 in the primary sorting post office 10B by way of a communication infrastructure. The same IDs and the updated address information as those stored in the ID database 25 in the primary sorting post office 10B are recorded in the ID database 25B in the secondary sorting post office 30B.
(Operation of the Second Prior Art)
Now, the operation of the mail sorting system 100B of the second prior art as shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, steps S71-S86 are directed to operations (processing for arrived mails) in the primary sorting post office 10B, while steps S91-S99 are directed to operations (processing for delivery mails) in the secondary sorting post office 30B.
In the flowchart in FIG. 6, mails that are collected from mail boxes or the like are first brought in front of the sorter main body 11B in the primary sorting post office 10B (step S71). Subsequently, the collected mails are fed to the feeding section 12 in the sorter main body 11B for performing the primary sorting (processing for arrived mails) (step S72). The mails brought to the feeding section 12 are fed to the ID barcode printing section 13 for printing ID as an ID barcode for identifying each mail on the surface thereof (step S73). Images of the addresses and the ID barcodes on the mails are read out by an optical scanner or the like in the image input section 14 and the images are sent to the address recognition unit 21 (step S74).
In the address recognition unit 21, addresses and IDs are sequentially recognized by the OCR 23 and the VCS 24 in order to determine the updated address information corresponding to each ID. The determined IDs and address information are sequentially stored in the ID database 25 and simultaneously transferred to the ID database 25B in the secondary sorting post office 30B by way of a communication infrastructure before being stored therein. That is, as the recognition processing proceeds by the OCR 23 and the VCS 24 as the address information, they are sequentially stored in the ID database 25 as the updated address information and simultaneously transferred to the ID database 25B in the secondary sorting post office 30B for storage by way of a communication infrastructure. Moreover, the determined IDs and the address information are sent to the sorting control section 15B in response to an inquiry from the sorting control section 15B.
In the sorting control section 15B, upon receiving the recognized IDs and the address information, a judgment is made if each mail is recognized to the final level as the address information necessary for performing the secondary sorting by the secondary sorting post office 30B (step S75). If recognized to the final level for performing the secondary sorting (YES in step S75), the mails are placed in the sorting boxes 16, 17 corresponding to the respective address for the secondary sorting post office 30B (step S76).
On the other hand, if not recognized to the final level necessary for performing the secondary sorting (NO in step S75), it failed to recognize the addresses to the final level and thus such mails are placed in a sorting box for feeding again (step S77).
Subsequent processing steps S78-S85 are identical to the steps S49-S57 in the first prior art as shown in FIG. 4 except the printing operation of the address information in step S54. Accordingly, detailed descriptions on these steps will be abbreviated herein.
Then, the operation of the secondary sorting post office 30B that engages with the secondary sorting (processing for delivery) of the mails that passed through the primary sorting will be described. Firstly, the mails that completed the primary sorting are brought in front of the sorter main body 31B in the secondary sorting post office 30B (step S91) and fed to the feeding section 32 in the sorter main body 31B for performing the secondary sorting (processing for delivery) (step 92). The ID barcode printed on each mail is read out by an optical scanner or the like in the ID barcode read-out section 33 before being sent to the sorting control section 34B (step S93).
Thereafter, in the sorting control section 34B, an inquiry is made to the address recognition unit 21B about the address information corresponding to the ID barcode from the ID barcode read-out section 33 (step S94). The address recognition unit 21B reads out the address information that is transferred from the primary sorting post office 10B and stored in the ID database 25B and returns the address information to the sorting control section 34B. The sorting control section 34B checks if the address information read out from the ID database 25B is the final level sufficient for the secondary sorting (step S95). If the final level information necessary for the secondary sorting is recognized (YES in step S95), the mail is placed in the corresponding one of the sorting boxes 35, 36 (step S96).
On the other hand, if the acquired information is not the final level sufficient for the secondary sorting (NO in step S95), the particular mail is determined to have the address information unable to be machine processed for secondary sorting that sorts mails in accordance with their addresses and thus put in a rejection box requiring a manual sorting (step S97). Consequently, a manual sorting is carried out on the mails in the rejection box and the mails are placed in the corresponding one of the sorting boxes 35, 36 (step S98).
Upon completing the secondary sorting in the secondary sorting post office 30B as described hereinabove, the mails in each sorting box 35, 36 are taken out for processing for delivery to each address (step S99).
However, conventional mail sorting systems such as those described hereinabove have the following problems:
In case of the “method of printing address barcode on the mail surface” such as the first prior art as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, it is necessary for the address recognition unit 21 to determine the address to the level necessary for the secondary sorting and print it on each mail by the address barcode printing section 19. However, since the level of address necessary for secondary sorting normally includes not only the town name but also the address number, it is most likely that possibility of recognizing such level of address by using only the OCR 23 is not high. The addresses of the mails that failed to recognize by the OCR 23 are generally determined by the VCS 24, which requires relatively long processing time. Accordingly, they are determined that the address information is not recognized to the final level in step S44 in the flowchart in FIG. 4 (i.e., NO in step S44), there are very high possibilities to go to the retrial route in steps S47 and thereafter.
The retrial route in steps S47 and thereafter requires that the mails are fed again subsequent to the address recognition by an offline processing of the VCS 24, i.e., the address recognition by the offline video coding or the like and requires wasteful works of processing the mails through the sorter main body twice. On the other hand, in order to reduce the wasteful works, it is required to recognize more mail addresses to the final level necessary for secondary sorting in judgment processing starting from step S44. As a result, there is no way other than securing time for processing the online video coding for the VCS 24.
In other words, generally, employed is a method of realizing a long processing time for the VCS 24 by providing a long delay route between step S43 and step S44. As a result, there are problems of causing a significant delay in the overall sorting processing and increasing in facility size of the sorter main body 11A.
On the other hand, in case of the “database management method of mail IDs and address information” of the second prior art as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, it is necessary to transfer the address information that is recorded in association with an ID for specifying each mail from the ID database 25 in the primary sorting post office 10B to the ID database 25B in the secondary sorting post office 30B using a communication infrastructure, thereby requiring to build a large scale communication infrastructure between the post offices. It is impossible for some enterprises that handle postal business to build such communication infrastructure or it is sometimes difficult to recover the investment to such communication infrastructure.
Additionally, it is a problem in these schemes to unitarily control all data on address information in the ID database 25, 25B. For example, in an event that the contents recorded in the ID database 25B are damaged in the secondary sorting step, it is required to start again from the primary sorting or alternatively to add a step of resending all of the recorded contents from the ID database 25 in the primary sorting post office 10B to the ID database 25B in the secondary sorting post office 30B.
Since most of the secondary sorting is normally performed in the midnight or early in the morning, it is really difficult at such time frame to suddenly have a staff or staffs for performing video coding of mails even if a decision is made to start again from the primary sorting, thereby limiting the secondary sorting with the recognition results of the OCR 23. However, as described hereinabove, chance of success in sorting mails only by the OCR 23 is low and there causes a significant amount of manual sorting.
On the other hand, even if an attempt is made to resend all of the data from the ID database 25 in the primary sorting post office 10B to the ID database 25B in a particular secondary sorting post office 30B, this is an irregular processing different from the normal processing, thereby making it very difficult to suddenly have an experienced worker in the resending processing.
Similarly, in case of any trouble in the communication infrastructure to transfer data from the ID database 25 to the ID database 25B in this scheme, it may trigger large scale consequential troubles that disable the secondary sorting of all mails in the secondary sorting post office 30B.